Daily Archives: 07/02/2015

MORNING MESSAGE

The Greeks have been badly served by their oligarchs who avoid responsibility and taxes and by their governments that have been corrupt and incompetent. But this catastrophe is Europe’s failure. It is a failure, as economists from Paul Krugman to Milton Friedman argue, of design: a monetary union without a political union to provide unified fiscal policies. And it is a failure of ideology: a rigid insistence on austerity policies even after their failure has been acknowledged.

Greece Goes Over The Edge

Greece misses IMF payment. W. Post:“The $1.67 billion missed payment to the IMF was unlikely by itself to spur immediate problems for the global economy, since it affected only a government-backed institution, not private investors. But if Greece is ultimately forced off the euro, other troubled euro-zone economies such as Portugal could be seen as more vulnerable. The exit could also weaken the goal of ever-closer European integration.”

Tsipras extends olive branch. NYT:“…Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greece was ‘prepared to accept’ a deal set out publicly over the weekend by the creditors, with small modifications to some of the central points of contention on issues like pension cuts and tax increases. Mr. Tsipras linked Greece’s acceptance of the terms to a new package of bailout aid that would need to be negotiated.”

Overtime rule “only scratches the surface of the bigger problem” says NYT:“… the affluent have captured a rising share in recent decades, leaving the wages of everyone else to stagnate … there are two main approaches that promise to increase middle-class wages considerably. The first would be to improve the bargaining power of workers … The second type of policy change would be to limit the incomes of those nearest the top of the ladder…”

Unskilled labor seeing wage gains. Bloomberg:“Average hourly earnings in industries paying less than $12.50 an hour a year ago rose 3.2 percent in the 12 months through April, about 1 percentage point more than wage growth for the job market as a whole … It is being driven in part by state governments raising their minimum wages, and also through voluntary decisions by companies to raise employees’ pay.”

Scott Walker’s union busting hasn’t helped workers. The Atlantic’s Donald Kettl:“The $3 billion he saved in his first term was certainly something. But that amounted to less than 1 percent of overall state and local government spending over that time period. Those savings came from the pockets of teachers and other public servants who are also taxpayers and whose compensation, by most measures, was not out of line. The law Walker signed didn’t contribute to the fiscal health of the state’s public pension fund.”

GOP Candidates React to SCOTUS’s Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

Last Friday the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, sparking a (nearly) nationwide celebration. Unsurprisingly, most GOP presidential candidates were not among those celebrating the Court’s decision. Instead, each candidate offered a disapproving comment, some more carefully crafted than others. From extremely nonplussed to apocalyptically apoplectic here’s a sample of their responses:

JEB BUSH:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “I believe in traditional marriage…I also believe that we should love our neighbor and respect others”
HOW MAD: Holding it in.

MARCO RUBIO:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “While I disagree with this decision, we live in a republic and must abide by the law”
HOW MAD: You mad, bro?

TED CRUZ:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “Today is some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history.”
HOW MAD: Typical Ted.

BOBBY JINDAL:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “Marriage between a man and a woman was established by God, and no earthly court can alter that.”
HOW MAD: Tanned. Rested. Ready to rage.

RICK PERRY:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “I fundamentally disagree with the court rewriting the law and assaulting the 10th Amendment.”
HOW MAD: Fundamentally flustered.

RICK SANTORUM:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “Just as they have in cases from Dred Scott to Plessy, the Court has an imperfect track record.”
HOW MAD: Pointing fingers.

MIKE HUCKABEE:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch.”
HOW MAD: Apocalyptically apoplectic.

BEN CARSON:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “While I strongly disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision, their ruling is now the law of the land.”
HOW MAD: The Doctor took a chill pill.

CARLY FIORINA:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “The latest example of an activist Court ignoring its constitutional duty to say what the law is.”
HOW MAD: Choleric

DONALD TRUMP:
SUPPORT OR OPPOSE DECISION: Oppose.
COMMENT: “The Bush appointed Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has let us down…Remember!”
HOW MAD: A confused tycoon tantrum.

Republican presidential candidates aside, the response to the Court’s decision was overwhelmingly positive. But while last week’s decision is a huge victory, and does much to end uncertainty for LGBT couples and families, there is still much work to be done. In a majority states, same-sex couples will be able to be legally married and legally fired from their jobs, evicted from their houses, denied credit, or refused service just because of their sexual orientation. Now it’s time to build on last week’s decision to pass nationwide, explicit LGBT discrimination protections.

BOTTOM LINE: No matter the source of their disapproval, almost every single candidate in the crowded GOP primary field came out against what a supermajority of Americans agree with last week. On issue after issue, GOP candidates’ extreme views are out-of-touch with the American people.

Expanding Medicaid In Every State Is The Next Healthcare Challenge

Last week was a great week for healthcare in America. In its decision to uphold premium tax credits available in states with federally facilitated marketplaces, the Supreme Court sent a strong message: the ACA is here to stay. Now that major court challenges to the Affordable Care Act are in the past, it’s time to focus on improving existing aspects of the law like Medicaid expansion.

Medicaid expansion is a main pillar of the Affordable Care Act that increases Medicaid eligibility to cover individuals making up to 138 percent of the poverty level—or $27,724 a year for a family of three. Expanding Medicaid helps ensure that people who make too much to be eligible for traditional Medicaid but too little to afford insurance of their own aren’t left without coverage. But thanks to the ACA’s first Supreme Court saga, states are allowed to choose whether or not to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid. The result has been almost half of all governors refusing to expand Medicaid eligibility for political reasons leaving more than 4 million people uninsured.Not expanding Medicaid has costs both human and economic. If all 21 remaining states accepted Medicaid expansion 4.2 million residents would become newly insured. Moreover, conservative governors refusing Medicaid expansion are hurting their state’s economically. For every $1 a state spends to expand Medicaid $13.4 federal dollars will flow into the state helping hospitals deliver care and boosting state economic growth and employment.This afternoon the president visited Tennessee—where the legislature has rejected the Republican governor’s Medicaid expansion proposal—to speak about the future of the Affordable Care Act. During the town hall, the president said, “This is about people. This is not about politics. This is not about Washington.” It is time for conservative lawmakers to put people over politics and expand Medicaid.

BOTTOM LINE: The ACA is here to stay. It is time for conservatives to stop fighting against the law at the expense of millions of their constituents.